Lady Ethelinda?
by hocrux
Summary: One day while sparring Gwaine and the knights notice Mordred getting distracted, and see him staring in the direction of some noblewomen. One in particular in fact. They can't help but tease him about being besotted with the Lady Ethelinda, but is she really who he has a crush on or is it someone else?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do not own Merlin or any if it's characters, they belong to the BBC.**

* * *

"You seemed oftly distracted during practice there eh, _Sir _Mordred," Gwaine grinned elbowing him slightly. Mordred frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Really? In what way?"

"Oh don't get me wrong, you weren't pulling your punches or anything but… I couldn't help and notice how you kept glancing towards the courtyard," he said, jerking his head in the direction of some noblewomen who had stopped by to watch the knights' sparring session. Elyan looked their way and one of them giggled, tugged a loose hair behind their ear, and looked away to whisper with her friends.

Elyan raised an eyebrow at Mordred and jested,"So… Any one of them in particular that caught your eye or was it just their beauty in general."

Mordred flustered by his implications rushed out,"What?No! No. Nothing of, _that _sort." He had in fact not been admiring the, though admittedly lovely looking, ladies but had instead found himself distracted by Merlin watching them train, and who was now laughing with one of the serving girls. He was helping her carry some buckets of water over to them.

Merlin being there when they trained wasn't in itself unusual. But the king had gotten wrapped up in a meeting with some of the nobles and lords that morning, and Mordred had assumed Merlin he'd be there as well to serve Arthur. So he'd been caught off guard when he'd noticed Merlin's appearance, and when he had realized his gaze had gotten stuck on his spar with Gwaine, he couldn't keep himself from constantly glancing over to see his reactions. He was still new as knight, and had much to prove, but he hoped he could at least be able to impress Merlin with his swordsmanship, if no one else. That would be enough for him.

"Yeh sure about that, 'cause I just so happened to notice that a certain Lady Ethelinda was with them," said Gwaine.

"Who just so happens to be the one we caught you admiring at last week's feast." added Leon with a smile, and ruffling Mordred's hair.

'Well no, actually,' thought Mordred. It had been his first feast he'd been to, and even as a knight and being allowed to talk with everyone else attending, some of the conversations with the nobles had been dreadfully boring. Which made him think about what it must be like for the servants, who could only listen and serve in silence. Which made him wonder how Merlin must be faring. He'd looked around and found him beside Lady Ethelinda refilling her goblet with wine. He'd sympathized when he'd been rudely shooed away by her afterwards, not so much as turning away from her conversation to nod at him in acknowledgement. Mordred remembered smilingly softly in amusement, and maybe adoration, when he saw Merlin make a face behind her back before scurrying back to his refuge beside the king and queen.

"Oh yes," Gwaine chuckled, " seemed absolutely besotted too."

"I was not," said Mordred indignantly.

"Ah, young love," Leon joked,"Don't worry we were young once too y'know. We know what it's like to long from afar."

"Please tell me you're not going to join them as well as Percival," said Mordred beginning to feel embarrassed. Percival just shook his head, eyes lit with amusement. Merlin and the serving girl were almost there with the water.

"They are right though," said Elyan,"The longing stare and goofy smile told us we all we needed to know."

"Can't quite say we're seeing things if we all were able to notice your affections for Lady Ethelinda," Gwaine patted Mordred on the back before getting up to go get some water. "Oi! Merlin it's about time you got here," he said splashing himself with water just as Merlin put his bucket down. The serving girl also put her bucket down, and backed away blushing to try and hide behind Merlin. Mordred saw that she seemed to stand quite close to him. The rest of them stood up to join Gwaine in relieving themselves from the heat and sweat of practice.

"If it's any consolation," Percival stopped him and paused, expression serious, " You were totally besotted," he finished with a laugh and Mordred followed him exasperated.

"So how'd you manage to get away from Arthur?," Gwaine asked Merlin.

"He had to go to a meeting with some pretty, uh, delicate nobles who he didn't want me," Merlin rolled his eyes and airquoted ," 'angering with my idiocy'. Which I took to mean they're all just easily offended."

The serving girl watched wide-eyed and admonished Merlin quietly, " Merlin! You shouldn't say stuff like that. Especially not in front of knights." Mordred wondered if she was newly hired or if she had simply never spent too much time around Merlin before.

"Besides," Merlin went on ignoring her,"one of the other servants got sick, so I was able to talk Arthur around into letting me help Hulda since she shouldn't have to carry two large buckets of water all by herself." He stood out of the way, gesturing at the girl behind him and the knights gave her quick nods of acknowledgement and words of thanks. She blushed and curtsied, before leaving with some mumbling about needing to attend to the rest of her duties. Merlin stayed and joked with the knights for a couple more minutes before he too had to leave.

" Sorry but that meeting will be over soon and I've got to get Arthur's know how he gets without food." They laughed as they watched him go. Mordred stared after him as he walked through the courtyard past the noblewomen and out of sight. He couldn't help but smile. Sure Merlin hadn't talked to him much, not nearly as often as with the other knights. But he also hadn't given him any suspicious looks in awhile. He felt as if they were finally beginning to get along better now, and hoped that this meant they'd be able to be friends one day. It was a nice thing to think about.

Elyan, Percival, Gwaine, and Leon exchanged knowing looks beside him.

"Mordred, no offense mate, but uh- this, is why we all think your besotted with Lady Ethelinda," Leon said shaking his head. The rest of the knights laughed, and Mordred joined them sheepishly as they all left to go to the armory.

* * *

**So for now I'm leaving this as a one-shot but I might add more to it later and have Mordred and the knights realize who he really has a crush on, because I have some ideas of how I might continue this so that Merlin and Mordred get together, but I'm not sure if I want to do that yet. Another option is I might just use this story to post various Merdred one-shots or drabbles. Let me know what you think I should do. And remember to review so I know what you thought of the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: None of the Merlin character's belong to me, they belong to BBC.**

* * *

"Merlin! Prepare the horses, we're going on a hunting trip"

"I don't suppose you cleared that with your advisers?," Merlin responded mindlessly putting away the last of Arthur's laundry.

"Well no, Merlin - I'm the king," Arthur said slowly putting emphasis on the word king. "Besides there's no meetings set for the next couple of days anyway" he mumbled whilst sheathing his sword. "Just get the horses ready," he said sharply, when he noticed Merlin's amused smirk. Merlin raised his hands slightly with a mock-innocent expression, before turning to leave.

As he reached the door Arthur called out, "Oh! And make sure to pack seven of them this time." Merlin did a mental headcount; 'Arthur, Leon, Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, myself'.

"Seven? Who else is coming with?," Merlin looked back at Arthur perturbed. Arthur raised an eyebrow before replying.

" I invited Sir Mordred to come along with us. He's been performing exceptionally well in training and I think it'd be good if he got to spend time with the rest of the knights outside of training. It'll certainly be good for morale."

"Right," Merlin nodded,"Okay…"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Merlin I know that when it comes to knighthood, there are many things beyond your comprehension, so I'll explain. This trip will show me How well Mordred can work with the others as a team and furthermore how well he'd potentially perform in the heat of battle alongside them."

"Oh yeah, of course," Merlin agreed taking his leave to prepare the horses. He let out a small chuckle. 'Just who does Arthur think he's fooling,' he thought. He made this out to be some sort of test, he knew that was just to cover up his true intentions. Mordred was still new not only to being a knight but to Camelot as a whole and was struggling to find his place, and this was Arthur's way of showing him that he did belong here and already had a space beside them. This trip would allow Mordred the opportunity to further bond with knights, as well as give Arthur himself an excuse to spend time with and get to know his newest recruit. Besides obviously just being a way to vent off steam from yesterday's meeting.

When Merlin got to the stables Mordred was already there packing his own horse. Which was odd considering the knights usually just left that job to the servants. 'Well at least that's less work for me,' he thought standing back to watch for a moment. Mordred finished and then looked to be doing a mental check-list to make sure he had everything, ticking things off on his fingers.

"You got everything?," Merlin asked amused. Mordred jumped, whipping around. Seeing Merlin he quickly relaxed and stood up straighter.

"Uh- Yes," he nodded glancing back at the horse for a second, " I believe so."

"Good," Merlin smiled starting to pack his own horse.

Mordred stood there awkwardly before quickly asking," Would you like any help?," and gesturing toward the rest of the horses.

Merlin looked up in surprise. He shrugged, "Sure, since your offering." Together, they continued to pack the rest of the horses in silence. Mordred occasionally glanced at Merlin wondering if he should make conversation, before mentally shaking his head and getting back to work. Eventually the last horse had been packed and they waited for the rest of the knights.

"Is there, eh … Is there anything I should be expecting for this trip?," Mordred asked finally finding his voice, "I know you've been on more of these that I."

Merlin gave him an odd look, and then answered, "Yes. I have. But as a servant. Never as a _knight._ I don't actually do any of the hunting, or much of anything really. I'm mostly just brought along to to carry things, or to cook some of whatever they catch for dinner. Y'know- _servant_ stuff." 'And to make sure Arthur doesn't get himself killed' he thought but didn't say. Even though he'd been doing better at trying to trust Mordred, he still wasn't quite comfortable making jokes like that around him.

Mordred opened his mouth looking apologetic," Sorry, I-" but Merlin interrupted him, feeling bad, he hadn't meant for that to come out… however that had come out.

"Look.," he said putting a hand on Mordred's shoulder, "Trust me , you'll be fine." "Though since it is your first one, you'll probably want to watch out for hazing," he couldn't help but joke to ease the tension. Mordred eyed the hand on his shoulder for a second and looked into Merlin's eyes nodding.

"Thanks," he smiled seemingly pleased, though Merlin didn't feel he'd actually helped him much.

Seeing that the rest of the knights had arrived Merlin gently took the rest of the reins from Mordred leading the horses to their respective owners.

"So how'd you like the extra help?," Gwaine asked grinning.

"Don't suppose you'd know how that came to be hmmm?"

"Hey, to be a knight self-discipline is very important. Besides, no one said he had to help pack all of them just his own… if his own kind nature got the best of him that had nothing to do with us."

"And you'd know about self-discipline, wouldn't you?," Merlin said with a laugh, and shaking his head.

He handed over the last horse over to Arthur before getting on his own.

"So how long do you think until he realizes he shouldn't listen to everything he hears?," Arthur said in amusement as he watched Mordred listen to some hunting tips from the others. Leon was the only one offering him what sounded like genuine advice while Elyan and Percival seemed to be taking the mickey.

"Well considering he's just about triple-checked his horse since Elyan suggested he was missing something, and looks about two steps away from using Percival's tip of using Gaia berries to mask his scent during the hunt, I'd say we've still got a few laughs left," Gwaine said riding up to them. Merlin nodded in agreement. As soon as the others finished straddling their horses they began their journey.

* * *

**Author's Note: this chapter is basically just a transition for the next one. I already have an outline for chapter three, but I wanted to show more of Merlin in this one and to see him interact with Mordred. The next chapter will address more of the actual crush aspect with maybe one of the knights figuring out it's on Merlin.**

**For now let me know what you think so far, and what you think will happen next or what you'd like to see happen in the future.**

**Any feedback for improving my writing or the characterization is welcome. **

**Try telling me which bits are your favorite and which bits not as much. I'd personally love to know if anyone has any favorite scenes or quotes so far.**


End file.
